Issues

Energy

Water is necessary for life. Streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries must be protected from pollution discharged from cities and factories. Water quality is also a mirror of human actions on the land, such as logging, farming, grazing, irrigation, mining, and urban development. Protecting the quality of our water means recognizing the connection between all human activities and this precious resource.

Regulating Water Pollution

Types of Pollution

Specific Water Topics

The energy we depend upon to cook, illuminate and heat our homes, and move about comes at a cost to the environment and our health. The challenge is to choose energy sources that will not ruin life as we know it—whether through climate change, radiation-induced cancers, or habitat destruction—yet will be there when we need it. The most efficient and clean sources of energy are not necessarily those that will reap the greatest financial rewards for energy producers.

Energy Sources

Protecting the health of species—fish, birds, amphibians, mammals— and protecting human health from pollution are often synonymous. Toxic contaminants have the worst effects at the top of the food chain—on people, eagles, and orca whales, for example. But many of the most devastating effects of pollution can disrupt entire food webs—those carefully balanced worlds in which microscopic plants and animals are food for yet larger creatures that are the prey for small fish that are eaten by the iconic salmon—that underpin our environment and our lives.

Regulating Threats to Species

Pollution and Habitat Threats to Species

Related News

More Protections for Washington Waters Possible

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WA Ecology Fine Sediment Rule

WA Ecology Fine Sediment Rule

Thanks to a Northwest Environmental Advocates lawsuit, Washington State is taking steps to adopt a fine sediment rule to protect spawning salmon.  But, as NWEA points out in recent public comments to the Washington Department of Ecology, those steps are too ...
Winter 2021 Newsletter

Winter 2021 Newsletter

Join with UsStay informed on the latest Northwest Environmental Advocates news as we work to protect and resort the regions water quality and habitat.Make Your Voice HeardYes, I want Northwest Environmental Advocates to represent my interests and I'm making a ...

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